, the nearest thing to it, would pass the house of representatives as represented bypaulryan, thechairman of the budget committee, would have across-the-board cuts of about 22% and presumably we don't know for sure, that would include fema. but again, all of the kind of ambiguous at this point, all of it up in the air. they're going to have to come back after the election in a lame-duck session anyway, try to figure out what to do about that fiscal cliff. they would probably fund fema in the interim. republicans are going to insist that any funding of fema over and above what is planned is offset with cuts elsewhere. so basically, we could be looking at the same old story here, steve. >> hey, mike, it's krystal. we know the president's back on the campaign trail, but he and his administration are in constant contact with the fema director, correct? >> reporter: right, we heard from jay carney, we can hear him from 35,000 feet in the briefing room, it is piped in as he briefs a pool back in the press corps back on air force one. he says the president has been in regular contact with the ad

in dubuque. back to you. >> in about 30 minutes we'll hear frompaulryan, campaigningfor mitt romney in battleground virginia my home state. must be slightly awkward for him today given politico's exclusive story saying ryan wasn't romney ace first choice for vp, it was chris christie. so jonathan what do you make of these reports, your out let there. politico saying romney was planning on going with christie and after his trip to israeling changed his mind? >> there was a significant intrigue going on even as these candidates are rumbling, stumbling and bumbling around the country in the last week if i can borrow your keith jackson refrain there. >> can you have it, actually. i don't think i'll be doing that again. >> mike allen and jim from politico reported chris christie was the number one choice for mitt romney at one point, he went to london for the olympics, came back and ended up picking paul ryan. there's a lot of bad blood right now between the romney campaign and the chris christie folks and we're seeing that spill out here right in the last couple of days. >> you know, le

days. isentryantherefor 19 events and the president has been there seven times for 10 events. no republican has ever won the white house without ohio, no democrat has done it since jfk. ohio is an important state. when we talk about the state we haven't discussed in this table is the importance of a ground game. the having field offices throughout a state and the things that they can do getting people to the polls and getting information about the candidates. obama's lead in the ground game is massive. obama has 800 field offices throughout the nation, romney only has 300. in ohio the difference is massive, 137-39. this continues throughout the states. you see ohio, florida, colorado. obama's lead is massive. obama built the largest grassroots organization that politics saw in '08 and after he won he continued to build it. this can make a difference of two points and in a close race like this it can make all the difference in '08. it gave obama some already. that's not the situation in this case. people that have been to the ground offices say the obama offices are all about

is in florida, so's joe biden andpaulryaninwisconsin. all trying to squeeze out every vote possible in these key battlegrounds but on november 7th will the loser blame sandy for the loss? howard fineman with "the huffington post" media group is here. i have to start with chris christie. who would have imagined that a week out from election day he would be out singing the president's praised in very strong language? we have a clip of that right now. >> the spth all over this and deserves great credit. i appreciate that call from the president. very proactive and i appreciate that type of leadership. the president's been great. i spoke to him three times yesterday. he called me midnight last night. good working with the president. >> so look, i do think he's sincere here and been very emotionally moved after surveying the damage in new jersey but not only is his praise sort of politically good for the president but politically good for chris christie. >> there's no question that it does. chris christie's job to get all the resources possible from the federal government, from anybody w

missing here? >> i have the benefit of meeting one on one with mitt romney andpaulryanandprobing what are their thoughts with regard to taxes and defense. you're talking about the things being thrown out, but when you look at a 20% rate reduction and when you look at what rate are now, that will take the top rate to 28%. we lose 1.1 trillion a year in revenue through the deductions and exemptions and credits and exclusions. over ten years that's probably 15 trillion, when you count inflation. so all you have to do is is eliminate about a third to 40% of the deductions, exemptions and credits and exclusions, and you can be revenue neutral. with regard to defense, we're spending 4.6% of gdp on defense. he's committed to spend 4. 4 is less hanthan 4.6. my personal view is we shouldn't commit to 4 or more than 3 and it should be facts and circumstances and see what happens. >> the economists that look at this say he has promised that he will not hit the middle class at all, only affect upper income earners. if you eliminate all of the deductions only for upper income earners, it leaves yo